by Jane Jamison
“Not the same thing. That would look suspicious. Nah. Instead, I accidentally”—he put air quotes around the word—“dropped a big, old rock on his left foot. You know. So he can still drive with his right one.”
“Holy shit.”
“What about Rick?”
“Rick’s the smart one. He’d already decided it was time to go and see her.”
For a moment, Davis forgot about the pain in his arm. “Are you fucking me? Without telling the rest of us?”
“Well, he told me.” Michael shrugged. “Of course, I was holding the hammer at the time. Maybe that’s what got him motivated.”
“So he’s headed to town, too?”
“Yep. He left a few minutes before Henry did. Looks like you’re going to be the last to show up. Unless, of course, you cut through a few pastures instead of using the roads.” Michael handed the hammer back to Davis. “Like I said, you’d better get moving.”
Davis resisted the urge to whack Michael in the head with the hammer. Instead, he dropped it to the ground. “You’re lucky you made me promise.”
“Yeah, I know.” Michael chuckled as he got back on the ATV. “Like I said. You’d better get moving.” He revved the motor then wheeled the vehicle around, sending up dirt.
“My brother is out of his mind.” Davis looked at his arm again. “But his crazy idea just might work.”
Shoving his hat lower on his head, he winced as he pulled himself into the saddle. “Come on, Rider. We’ve got to get into town.”
* * * *
Mira stared at the street from the window of Doc’s office. The doctor had left earlier on an emergency call, and although she would’ve loved to have gone with him, he’d asked her once again to “hold down the fort.”
How many times would she get stuck in the office with no patients so she could “hold down the fort”? On one hand, she didn’t want anyone to become ill or get hurt just so she’d have something to do, but the days were getting longer with nothing to do except read Doc’s outdated medical magazines.
Should she leave? Getting a better job would keep her from going crazy from boredom. Yet she couldn’t see herself leaving town now. Not when the Fairland brothers were in Lonesome.
Rick was amazingly sexy with his wavy brown hair and intense eyes. His body was rock solid, and she couldn’t think of a more perfect body.
Unless, of course, it was Davis. She grew warm thinking about his longish black hair, hair she’d love to run her fingers through. She had a feeling that he was a romantic simply by the looks he’d given her the night of the dance. His black eyes called to every primal instinct inside her, and she couldn’t wait to get him between her legs.
Henry with his shaved head wasn’t her usual type. She’d often wondered why a man would shave his hair. Didn’t most men hate losing their hair? Yet with Henry it made sense. The shape of his head was just the right shape. She looked at her palm and remembered stroking the smoothness of his head as he’d pushed her against the saloon’s wall. His black eyes, so much like Davis’s, gave her butterflies.
And then there was Michael. He was just as handsome and sexy as his brothers. Granted his eyes were green, but she loved the color of them. So what made her feel differently about him than his brothers? She cared for him, but she didn’t get the same heart-racing feeling about him that she did for Davis, Henry, and Rick.
The attraction simply wasn’t there. As hard as she wanted to include him in her thoughts of the future, she couldn’t bring herself to do so.
Maybe she only needed to get to know Michael better. Yet he was the brother she’d seen the most, so that didn’t make sense. Could his brothers tell her something that would change not only her mind but her heart?
Should she even take a risk with the Fairland brothers? She’d wondered often if she should forget about love. Would she know real love when it happened? Or would she make another mistake like the one she’d made with Carl?
No. Carl was different, both our emotions heightened because of where and how we met.
And she hadn’t questioned her feelings for Carl. Not until Liz had arrived. Now she was grateful that Liz had come along. If Liz hadn’t made Carl and her realize that their feelings were misplaced, she could’ve ended up married to a man she didn’t really love.
A pickup roared to a stop in front of the building. Rick piled out of the truck and stormed toward the front door. She stared, stunned to see him, and even more stunned when a second pickup skidded to a stop beside the first one. Henry slid out of the vehicle and began limping toward the steps.
What the hell is going on?
She’d caught a glimpse of a horse and rider coming toward the building as she rushed to the front door and yanked it open. Rick’s arm was outstretched as though ready to grab the doorknob.
“I need to talk to you,” said Rick.
“Forget him.” Henry hobbled up behind Rick. “I need your help. I think my foot’s broken.”
She reached out to help Henry inside, her gaze slipping to Davis getting off his horse then wrapping the bridle over the hitching post. The doctor’s office wasn’t the only business in town that still had a hitching post in front of it, but not many people rode their horses into town. Especially when the rider was responsible for getting rid of any manure his horse dropped.
“Inside?” asked Henry.
She jerked her attention away from Davis as he, too, hurried up the steps. His sleeve had been torn off and wrapped around his forearm. Blood had turned the denim sleeve a dark red color. “Rick, take Henry into the examination room.”
“But, honey, I need you,” complained Henry.
“Not as much as I do,” argued Davis as he came to the door. “I’m bleeding.”
Rick grumbled something under his breath then hooked his arm in Henry’s. “You’re both going to be fine. Stop whining like a couple of little kids.”
She gently took Davis’s arm. “What happened?”
“Our brother happened, that’s what.”
“Damn straight,” said Henry as he let Rick lead him inside the office.
“What are you talking about?” She put her arm around Davis’s waist and helped him through the door. Not that he seemed to need much help. His strength oozed from every pore of him.
“Michael slashed my arm with a damn hammer.”
She stalled and gaped at Davis. “You’ve got to be kidding. Michael would never do such a thing.” Michael was so tender, kind, and funny. He hadn’t even harmed a wounded rabbit. How could he have hurt his own brother?
Davis headed into the examination room. “I’m telling you he did.”
“And he’s the one that dropped a huge rock on my foot. Damn, it hurts.”
Rick plopped Henry into a chair. “He had his reasons. They might not be good reasons, but I guess he thought so.”
She wasn’t sure what to believe. “He hurt both of you? On purpose?”
“He sure as hell did.” Henry tugged off his boot and sock. His foot was swollen and turning an ugly purple-black color. “You have to help me, Mira.”
She eased Davis onto the exam table and began unraveling the bloody makeshift bandage. “This doesn’t make any sense. Why would he do such things?”
“It doesn’t matter why now.” Davis flinched as some of the bandage stuck to his torn flesh. “We need medical assistance.”
“The doctor’s out on a call right now.”
Davis’s dark eyes, flecked with bits of amber, met hers. “I’d rather you take care of me, anyway.”
“That goes double for me,” added Henry.
Her gaze slid to Rick. “Are you hurt, too?”
He crossed his arms. “Nope. I took off before Michael could get to me.”
Something was off. She knew in her heart that Michael wouldn’t hurt them. What weren’t they telling her? “I just don’t understand.”
“Don’t try, babe. Sometimes people do stupid shit for good reasons.”
She didn
’t understand what Rick was getting at, but she didn’t have time for questions. Instead, she studied Davis’s wound and decided on a course of action. “You’re going to need stitches.”
“Whatever it takes, sugar-baby.” Davis smiled at her as though he didn’t feel any pain at all.
Sugar-baby? She almost laughed at the nickname then decided she liked it.
“I’ll need to numb your arm.”
He shrugged. “If you want, but I’m fine if you just go ahead and get it done.”
They were all strong, virile men, but she wasn’t about to stick a needle in his arm without first giving him something for the pain. She turned toward the medicine locker. “It’ll just take a second. Henry, I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to wait a bit. Rick, until I can get to him, can you get one of the large ice packs out of that refrigerator? Put it on his foot to minimize the swelling.”
At least it didn’t look as though the rock had broken any skin. Until she could examine his foot for internal damage, she’d concentrate on mending Davis’s wound.
“No problem,” he said.
How were they not complaining about the pain? Were they being stoic for her?
She went to work. Quickly, she readied the lidocaine to numb his arm. The last thing she wanted was to have him flinch out of pain. Plus, after his macho attitude, he’d be embarrassed to show that it hurt.
Thankfully, by the time she’d given him the shot, the bleeding had subsided. It was unusual for the bleeding to have stopped so suddenly, but she wasn’t the type to question a turn of good fortune. She administered the lidocaine, and true to his word, Davis didn’t react at all. “Are you doing okay?”
“Sure thing.”
She looked up from her work and was surprised to see that he showed no discomfort at all. “Henry, how are you doing?” she asked without taking her eyes from Davis.
“I’m doing great, honey. Don’t worry about me.”
She didn’t hear any pain in Henry’s tone, so she kept going, beginning now to clean the two parallel gashes. Again, he remained still as though he didn’t feel any pain at all. Had the lidocaine started working that quickly? She wouldn’t question that stroke of good luck, either.
“Ready to get stitched up? It’s probably going to take a good ten stitches on each side.” She pulled on a pair of gloves, yet when she checked the wound again, she knew it wouldn’t take more than six on each gash. Was the slashed opening even smaller now? Or had she miscalculated the first time? But that had to be her imagination. A wound didn’t heal on its own.
“Better hurry, sugar-baby.”
Why would he want her to hurry?
She frowned, not because his wound wasn’t as awful as before, but not understanding how that could’ve happened. As she watched, she would’ve sworn she saw one side of his gash reach out to connect with the other side.
She sucked in a breath. What was going on? Was she hallucinating?
“Mira, stitch me up. Now.”
She shook her head, not believing what she’d seen. “But—”
Rick took her arm, causing her to look at him. Amber flecked his eyes. “Stitch him up now.”
“Okay.” It took every bit of her self-control to keep from leaning against Rick and offering her lips to him. Instead, she blinked, pulled herself together, and began to stitch Davis’s arm.
Stitching up the wounds took a lot less time than it should have. With every stroke of the needle, she was certain she saw another part of his flesh mold together.
I’m hallucinating. But how?
By the time she’d tied off the stitches, Davis was already wrapping his arm in a bandage. “It’s okay. I’ve got the rest of it.”
“But I didn’t finish.”
“It’s okay. I’m okay. The rest will heal fast enough.” Davis pulled her into a hug. “You did a great job.”
She found it even harder to think with her body pressed against Davis’s. “But how?”
“It’s okay. Really,” he insisted.
She almost wrapped her arms around his waist but resisted. Pushing away from him, she shook her head then looked to Henry. “Why do you have your boot on again? I didn’t look at your foot yet.”
He stood and stomped his feet. “I’m fine. Beats the hell out of me, but nothing’s swollen or hurting any longer.” He smiled wider and came toward her to take her hand and lead her to the chair he’d been sitting in. “I guess all I needed was to be around you.”
“This isn’t making any sense. Am I going crazy? I’d swear Davis’s gashes were a lot longer and more severe. And I saw your foot. It was turning colors. There’s no way it would’ve gotten better.”
Rick knelt beside her. “Listen to me, Mira. Forget all that and just listen. And answer the question. Can you do that?”
She wasn’t sure, but she’d try. “Yes.”
“Do you want us, babe?”
“What?” She sat back, her mind whirling. “I don’t understand. Nothing is making any sense.”
“What don’t you understand, honey?” asked Henry. “We want to know if you want us as much as we want you.”
“What? I was talking about Davis’s wounds. And Henry’s foot.”
Rick took one hand while Henry took the other. Davis, his arm wrapped in a clean bandage, stood nearby, his attention fixed on her.
“Babe, forget about the medical stuff and concentrate on my question. Look at me.”
She did, unable not to look at Rick. Something in his voice, in his eyes, in his very being compelled her to look at him.
He never took his amber-dotted eyes away from hers. “We want you. As a woman. As our woman.”
“Oh.” Her mind refused to work correctly, but the rest of her understood what he was asking. “You want me? All of you?” She looked to Davis and then Henry and saw their answers in their expressions. “As your woman?”
“That’s right.” Davis’s smile held bemusement. “I know this is hard to follow, but do your best. We want you. All you have to do is want us back.”
“Do you?” asked Henry. “Do you want us back?”
Yes. Oh, hell, yes. “But what about Michael?”
Rick startled and jerked back a bit. “What about him?”
“Is he a part of this, too?” Yet did she want Michael to be a part of whatever Rick was suggesting? She wasn’t sure.
“Do you see him here?” asked Henry, irritation lacing his tone.
“No.”
“Although he did have a hand in getting us here.” Davis lifted his arm. “Not that we asked him to stick his nose into this.”
“I’m so confused.” She put a hand to her head as though that would stop the thoughts from spinning wildly out of control.
“I know,” said Rick, squeezing her hand. “This wasn’t the way we wanted things to go down. Then again, Michael was right in getting us here, so we’re taking advantage of it.”
She glanced at Davis as he leaned against the examination table, putting weight on an arm that should’ve been excruciatingly painful. Henry was next to her showing no signs that his foot was giving him pain. “How could you both have healed so fast?”
“Listen to me, babe.” Rick drew her attention back to him. “Answer the question. Do you want us?”
“I—” Should she tell him the truth? But what if she was wrong yet again? Could her heart and her pride take another blow?
“Just tell us,” urged Henry. “Are you attracted to us? Because we’re sure as hell attracted to you.”
She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. With the breath came the truth. “Yes. I do. I want you so bad my teeth hurt.”
Davis’s laugh filled the room. “Well, that’s a relief. You had me worried for a while there.”
Rick pulled her onto her feet. “Good because we want you, too. But don’t get us wrong. We don’t want you for just a few days or weeks. We want you for a lifetime. You have to know that.”
She swallowed, sudden
ly at a loss for words. What was he telling her? After hallucinating about their injuries, was she now hearing things? Things she longed for them to say?
“Then show us how much you want us. Show us and we’ll show you.” Henry caught her behind the neck and brought his lips to hers.
She closed her eyes when his mouth touched hers. At once, her arms wrapped around his waist as she leaned her head back and he deepened the kiss. His tongue swept through her mouth, and she moaned, wanting his tongue to be everyone on her. On her lips. On her breasts. On her pussy. He cupped her butt, bringing her closer still.
Davis and Rick moved in, cocooning her in their warmth. She moaned again as hands roamed her body.
This is it. This is the moment I’ve waited for.
This time there was no mistaking the sensation flowing through her.
Yes, I want you. All of you. And I think that maybe, just maybe, I might love you.
She’d been correct. Nothing made sense any longer. But what she was feeling simply felt right. Maybe that was the way love was. It didn’t always make sense, but it always felt right.
She leaned against Henry even as she reached out to take Davis’s injured arm. When she took hold of it, he didn’t jerk away out of pain.
How did he heal so fast?
The thought broke the kiss, and she pushed the men away. “You have to tell me. How did you heal so fast? And don’t tell me I imagined it.”
They looked from one to the other, a silent exchange passing between them. She was almost sorry, almost afraid that she’d asked.
Davis’s eyes softened. “You’re going to have to trust us. Otherwise, you won’t believe us.”
“I trust you.” Strangely, again making no sense, she did trust them.
“It’s like this,” he began then stopped. The three of them turned toward the front door.
“Hey, Mira, I finished up faster than I thought. What’s going on? I saw the trucks and the horse.” Dr. Williams turned the corner, saw them, and came up short. “It looks like we have patients to tend to.”
“Nope. We’re good to go.” Rick thumped Henry on the shoulder. “In fact, we were just leaving.”
